100% Free Ranged CxR Finished product (PIC HEAVY)

[MMPoultryFarms]

Well after alot longer then I expected Me and my family was able to Do a Processing. I posted a while back about Processing but after a test run of the biggest girl she only weighed 3.11 lbs. So I called that day off. Well we began processing roughly 6:45 PM its now 11:11 pm and we have wrapped up and cleaned upheres a few Pics from start to finish Product. I averaged 5-6 pounders Smallest being 4.11 lbs and only had 3 of those Biggest Bird errored my 7 pound scales so I am a little lost on him 7.1lbs?

In the beginning there were Little Fuzzy butts

Aprox 2 weeks old. free ranging in there brooder yard. 1 month old free ranging and hard at it.

So we set everything up. 55 Gallon apple sauce barrel fired up 150 degrees CHECK

Little dawn dish soap and ACV. Kill Cones CHECK

Ressurected Plucker really should have took a pic after we changed fingers but oh well LOL. CHECK

Sink and escavating area CHECK.

I was so tired after getting everything set up that me and my little helper MR.Lover had to catch some shut eye.

The girls in action hard at it.

Please be easy this was our very first processing and we have never done anything like this before. Well they haven't

Finished Product CHECK.

We Got most all of our Birds finished I set a few bck for breeding stock. Sorry theres not alot of pics of like all the birds we didn't want them exposed to air long so we put them in our chill tank asap then later stuffed with ice and of to the chests for about a 3 day chilling before packaging freezing and selling.
This was a very big learning experience for my family. We started with 50 Birds ended up with half of those. Along the way a few things I learned when Raising CxR free range for best results. Offer fresh water if that means leaving a hose running in the washouts of your yard so be it. Have misters They will find them and use them. Offer them vitamens and electrolytes. Proved them with lots of shade. And the most Important Rule I found is in order to Survive the meat to feed conversions Place your waterers at least 3 feet away from the feeders make them walk for It. My second batch is doing really well compaired to the first these were 15 week processed birds my new batch has doubled that weight. Anyhow its been a long night and My bed is calling me and MR.Lover said he wants a treat so I better get going. Thanks alot BYC without you none of this would have been possible.

Matthew

 

[booker81]

Looks fantastic!!!

I do love the little girl with the hose - she looks like she's having a grand time! LOL!

Those will be some tasty birds!

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

Yup she had so many jobs I almost felt sorry for her but she took each one on and handledit like a champ.

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

Mmmmm, very nice! Great setup and the finished birds look wonderful! What's for dinner tonight?

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

oh that is soo awesome. sorry, your kids look like they are having fun! what great faces!!! how old were your birds when finally processed? and were they free ranged only or fed commercial feed as well?

 

[1_FnkyFrm]

Boy those sure do look good! Now its making me want to raise some.. Mmmm..

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

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The Big Giant mystery Chicken is for dinner I bet he was every bit of 10 pounds before we cleaned him But I was unable to weigh him dressed he errored the scales hehe.

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

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Katy the birds were 15 weeks old at process I am a 100% all natural farm (not organic) just natural So I feed grains Mixed in bulk of 500 to 1000 lbs of a homemade brew thats 19.6% protein flock raiser. it consist of Winter Wheat Milo, Soybean meal Rolled Oats Corn, and a homeade Poultry premix from a fella at OSU. I take that to my local Co Op and have it all blended up and thats what i feed farm wide I will post some pictures Of my different feed programs someday. These birds were not kept On a diet they were offered free choice feeders threw out my yard. Heres a few Pics of the next batch who arent far behind them at only 9 weeks old. heres a few pics of the second batch

Poor girl can barely hold this hen. and who said you can't free range CxR?? there favorite shade spot With its own built in homemade creek fed by well water from a natural spring so it stays cool in this area.

but Most of them just prefer to act like the rest of the chickens and Grind for there meals

I have a 3rd batch of roosters for a caponizing test Me and my local vet are gonna do those 9 together to see if we can get it down to a science. I will post progress on those guys in the future.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

lol I actually went back on your thread just to show my daughter the big smile on your daughters face! Love your set up you have such a nice looking place and family. Your title said 100% free ranged, but you metioned feed so that's why I was asking. But I see now that you free ranged and fed supplementally, which is great in my book. So you said a few times CXrock, are these the slightly slower growing birds or just standard CX?
I would love to hear more about your feed formulation and how you arrived at it.

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

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Katy these are standard CxR it takes quite some time to grow them accordingly when not Confining there space. at least in my experience. you cant achieve a good weight limit in 6-8 weeks when there spending all there time running around the yard burning off all the calories they put on. And let me tell you hun they truly Run/waddle here on this farm. (remember the CxR chasing the lizard? if not heres a link.

) for the record I know this isnt a lizard its a salamander.
As for feed I have a custom feed licence its one of the things I do here When you say commercial to me I think Industry adding goodies to make the world a better place. We feed farm raised crops here. Minuse the oats. Everything is grown right here on Oklahoma red dirt. About the only thing I give them that comes from a industry is gatoraid or vitamins and electrolytes. I could E-mail you with some feed recipes if you like and some experimantal ones Like the flock raiser thats really turned Out to be a nice feed. Ahh tell you what I will go snap a pick so you can kinda see what I got going. here you go. this is the consistancy I use.

Heres some milo I have planted as supplemental feed for there own taking.

and heres the kind of feeders I use its quit simple really I use 5 inch pvc tubes cut a small square at the bottom but a feed pan under it and attach them to trees threw out my yard each feeder can hold most of a 50 lbs bag. some more then others. Hope this helps feel free to Pm any quiestions pertaining to feed.